Public Interest Law

Laura A. Caldwell

About

Professor Caldwell graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Iowa and earned her J.D. from Loyola University Chicago. After graduation, she was employed by the Chicago law firm of Clausen Miller, where she litigated in the areas of medical malpractice, insurance defense and entertainment law. She subsequently worked with Bresler Harvick & Glenn and later with Worker & Power, where she was elected partner. She is experienced in the art of legal writing for litigation and has wide jury trial exposure. In 2007, Professor Caldwell received the St. Robert Bellarmine award for distinguished contributions to the legal profession and the school of law. In the summer of 2008, she taught International Criminal Law at Loyola's campus in Rome.

Professor Caldwell has been published in a variety of legal publications. She is also a freelance magazine writer and author. With novels published in over 22 countries and translated into more than 13 languages, Caldwell has been called "one of the most talented and inventive ... writers around."

Caldwell was researching her sixth novel when she was led to the criminal case of a young man sitting in a Cook County holding cell for nearly six years without a trial. Compelled by his story, Caldwell joined a renowned criminal defense attorney to defend him, ultimately proving his innocence and inspiring her first nonfiction book, Long Way Home: A Young Man Lost in the System and the Two Women Who Found Him (Free Press, Simon & Schuster). She discovered that while many programs are available for ex-offenders after their release, the innocent in most states receive no assistance. In 2009, Caldwell was moved to create "Life After Innocence" at Loyola that aids exonerees -- people who have been wrongfully convicted and later found completely innocent -- to begin their lives again and reclaim their rights as citizens.